Time passed by and school for the day ended. As Wu Shan walked towards the entrance of the Institute, he saw Chen Linjian and Huyan Lanruo waiting there.
"Took you long enough. C'mon, let's go." Lanruo said, pouting a little.
Wu Shan could only laugh in amusement, while Chen Linjian nervously laughed. Although they knew she was just being... What could be only said as being her, they knew that she'd go berserk if she was actually angry. This was likely a trait coming from her father's genes, while her beauty, as a consequent, came from her mother's.
"We'll be heading to a teahouse that's close from here. I hear they make quite the tea, not to mention the snacks that accompany them." Linjian said as they walked.
Huyan Lanruo's expression didn't seem to change, but both Linjian and Shan knew that she was really excited about it, mostly because of the snacks.
"Oh yeah, you said you'll introduce me to Ye Hong, right?" Wu Shan asked.
"Yeah. He told us earlier to leave without him. He'll catch up later, said something about an errand." Linjian answered.
Lanruo only nodded, while her mind was still on the rumored delicious snack served at their destination. The distance between the teahouse and the Institute was about 20 minutes or so on foot.
The street that they were walking through were filled with all kinds of stalls. Be it food, drinks, general items, or even some equipment for both Fighters and Demon Spiritualists, these stalls have it all. This was a common sight in Glory City. Aside from some mansions belonging to the major families of the city, or even the common citizenry, the whole city felt like what you'd expect of an important city, if one were to compare it to the standards of Earth prior to the two World Wars.
Of course, shady businesses, shops and even red-light districts also exists in the city, though it would take quite the insider knowledge to know where to find one, without arousing suspicions. Typically, they're hidden at alleyways or a complex of buildings that don't get much attention by the city guards.
As they arrive at the teahouse in question, a commotion was brewing just outside of the shop. Some thugs were making a scene. Like what one would expect, they were messing around with one of the waitresses. But before they decided on what to do, someone unexpected came.
"Could you please stop that? She clearly doesn't want to fool around with you." that person said.
"Huh?" one of the thugs said, as all of them looked at the person in question.
"Wait, isn't that..." Linjian said before he was interrupted by Lanruo.
"YE HAN!!" Lanruo shouted, with obvious heart expression on her eyes.
Ye Han, who noticed the three, simply smiled at Huyan Lanruo who was fawning over him. He then turned back towards the thugs. At the time, he had just reached 1-Star Silver Rank and had just gotten the Golden Horned Land Dragon from Ye Zong. This was prior to his training with Ye Mo, and his temperament was a tad more obvious than when he was first introduced in the main canon.
Although it was obvious he didn't know much about the special abilities of the demon spirit that he had, he knew at least on how to somewhat properly fight with it.
"What you gonna do about it, eh?!" another of the thugs said with a menacing tone.
"I'm gonna let this slide just once. Run off, and never cause a scene again. If not, I won't hesitate to use violence to convince you otherwise." Ye Han said with a serious face.
"Oooh, I'm sooo scared." The thugs mockingly replied, while laughing at his words.
Ye Han then proceeded to use only his martial arts, despite already having his demon spirit, simply because he lacked the experience in using demon spirits during combat. He was initially seating on one of the available seats outside the shop.
He puts down his cup, then proceeds to stand from his seat, and walk over to the thugs slowly. One of the thugs, with a smug face plastered on him, pulls a fast one on him. But before he could connect the hit, he was sent flying towards the open street. The other thugs, numbering around four people, encircled him and tried to attack him at the same time.
'Ah, the classic mass assault, stereotype thug style...' Wu Shan thought on the side, as he watched the whole thing unfolded.
Ye Han redirected one guy to the other, parried one and kicked him in the gut. After that, the last one standing pulled out a dagger, and tried to stab him. He grabbed the hand with the dagger, and then used his fingers, empowered with his Soul Force slightly, proceeded to disarm the thug and then pinned him to the ground.
He then turned towards the other thugs that had just stood up from where they were, and as expected, they turned tail and run. Ye Han stood up and tossed the one he held on the ground to the street. That thug then followed his friends, running away from the scene.
The crowd that had formed to watch the fight cheered for Ye Han. Huyan Lanruo simply gleamed with admiration, while Chen Linjian clapped his hands and smiled. Wu Shan, though, only made a fake smile, because he knew of what he will do later on during the main canon. While it's quite the prejudice, it's not exactly surprising, given the sheer gravity of what he would do.
Ye Han then went over to the three to greet them.
"Chen Linjian. I see you're doing well." He said, giving a nod.
"Hah, I could say the same for you. You look fine and dandy." Linjian replied.
When Ye Han was about to greet Huyan Lanruo, he saw her looking at him gleefuly, and simply gave her a smile, while saying, "Yo, Lanruo. Looking as pretty as ever,".
"Hehe, thanks for the compliment." she replied, her face blushing red.
"And this is...?" he then said as he looked at Wu Shan.
"Ah,this is Wu Kaoshan. A fellow classmate of mine, and also a long-time friend." Linjian introduced Wu Shan.
"Hmm... I've heard of you. You're the firstborn of Uncle Zhaoyun, right? Nice to meet you." Ye Han said as he extended his hand, offering a handshake.
"Hm. Nice to meet you. Ye Han, right? I've heard of you from Linjian and Lanruo, especially her." Wu Shan replied as he took his hands and shook their hands.
"I imagine she's a handful, ain't she?" Ye Han said with a hearty laugh.
"She really is." Wu Shan said while motioning a giving up motion with his hands, shaking his head.
"Anyways, I gotta go somewhere. Been nice to meet you. Later." Ye Han said as he then left the trio.
Chen Linjian then noticed Wu Shan's expression after Ye Han left. He saw that he wasn't really happy seeing Ye Han. But he then decided to keep it to himself.
"Well then. Let's go to the shop." Linjian said as he pushed the two to the shop.
The trio then got a table and sat down. As they ordered from the menu, Ye Hong arrived.
"Hey guys. Sorry for being late." he said as he sat down on an empty seat.
"Nah, it's fine-wait..." Linjian said before he noticed someone behind Ye Hong.
"Isn't that lil' miss Ziyun?" he then asked Ye Hong.
"Ah, yeah. She wanted to come with me." Ye Hong explained, before putting Ye Ziyun to his side, and said, "Ziyun, say hello. These are my friends,".
"Hello. My name is Ye Ziyun." she said, slightly bowing her head.
"Ah, I almost forgot to introduce him to you. Wu Shan, he's Ye Hong. Ye Hong, he's Wu Shan." Linjian then introduced both Wu Shan and Ye Hong to each other.
"'Sup! I've heard a lot about you from Linjian! Name's Ye Hong!" he said with a cheery expression.
"Same here! My name's Wu Shan!" Wu Shan replied with the same energy."
Wu Shan found Ye Hong to be quite the carefree person. Unlike Ye Han, whose nature was not exactly to his liking, Ye Hong is more amiable.
'No wonder Ye Ziyun trust him that much, even though they're cousins.' he thought, as he glanced at Ziyun and gave her a faint smile.
Her face was red, as she took Ye Hong's hands to hid her's. Ye Hong was pretty amused by this and laughed.
"My, my. What a ladykiller." Huyan Lanruo said to Wu Shan, playfully sneered at him.
"Oh, shut it." Wu Shan replied, slightly nudging her. She laughed at him because of this.
"Okay, okay. Let's make our order and continue our chat after, shall we?" Linjian said as he then asked Ye Hong and Ziyun for their orders.
The group would converse for some time, with Ziyun listening in and laughed at some of the topics in the conversations. Ye Hong glanced at her, and he was glad to see her smile. Because since her mother's passing, her father being busy with his work as City Lord, her grandfather being the only Legend-Rank Demon Spiritualist in Glory City, thus not allowing him to spend his time at home, and that Xiao Ning'er had stopped visiting her about a couple of years ago, Ziyun never really smiled. Although she's not likely to understand everything they were talking about, at least she could find some humor in their conversations.
After it was almost evening, they parted ways and returned to their homes.